System and method for remote inbound vehicle inspection

ABSTRACT

A system and method for reducing the shop time of a vehicle, e.g., a locomotive, at a maintenance facility by obtaining onboard systems parameter data during a period when the vehicle is inbound to the maintenance facility for required periodic scheduled maintenance, and by determining, at the maintenance facility and prior to arrival of the vehicle at the maintenance facility, from the data received from the inbound vehicle, whether any of the data is out of a predetermined range or is trending to be out of range.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is a continuation patent application of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 10/681,886, filed on Oct. 9, 2003, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,850,869and entitled “System and Method for Remote Inbound Vehicle Inspection”,which was a continuation patent application of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 10/071,219, filed on Feb. 7, 2002, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,647,356and entitled “System and Method for Remote Inbound Vehicle Inspection”,which was a continuation patent application of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 09/378,940, filed on Aug. 23, 1999, now abandon, and entitled“System and Method for Remote Inbound Vehicle Inspection.”

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not Applicable

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to vehicle maintenance and repair.

2. Background Art

Currently, vehicles such as locomotives are inspected at the repair shopwhen the locomotive arrives for periodic scheduled maintenance. Thein-shop inspection process is conducted as soon as possible upon arrivalof the locomotive at the shop, because reduced shop time results inincreased availability and usability of a locomotive. The in-shopinspection process typically takes several days to complete. The resultsof the inspection determine which, if any, systems must be correctedduring the periodic scheduled maintenance and which fault correction andmaintenance actions must be taken.

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) currently requires aninspection every 92 days, and the locomotive is, of course, out ofservice during such periodic inspection and maintenance period.

Due to the high value of reducing overall shop time, any system orprocess to reduce such shop time would be very desirable.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a remotely operated inbound inspectionsystem and method for reducing or eliminating in-shop inspection ofvehicles, such as locomotives. The invention also provides a remotelyoperated system and method for reducing the shop time for vehicles,e.g., locomotives, during their periodic, scheduled inspections. Theinvention also provides a system and method for expediting the servicingof vehicles, e.g., locomotives, at a repair shop, by gathering systemrelated data, sending the data to a remote maintenance facility, andevaluating potential problems and work elements at the remotemaintenance facility, prior to arrival of the vehicle at the shop.

The novel features of this invention, as well as the invention itself,will be best understood from the attached drawings, taken along with thefollowing description, in which similar reference characters refer tosimilar parts, and in which:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a schematic of a typical locomotive which can be adapted toimplement the method of the present invention; and

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of a preferred embodiment of the method of thepresent invention which can be implemented in the type of vehicle shownin FIG. 1, for conducting remote inbound inspection of such locomotivesor other complex vehicles.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

While the present invention can be applied to any vehicle, such as anaircraft, which has complex systems which must be maintained on aperiodic scheduled basis at a maintenance facility, the invention willbe illustrated with reference to locomotives.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic of an exemplary locomotive 10 which canimplement the method of the present invention. The locomotive 10 may beeither an AC or DC locomotive. The locomotive 10 is comprised of severalcomplex systems, each performing separate functions. Some of theequipment systems and their functions are listed below. Note that thelocomotive 10 is also comprised of many other equipment systems, andthat the present invention is not limited to functioning with theequipment systems disclosed herein.

An air supply and air brake system 12 provides compressed air to thelocomotive, which uses the compressed air to actuate the air brakes onthe locomotive and cars behind it. An auxiliary alternator system 14powers all auxiliary equipment. In particular, it supplies powerdirectly to an auxiliary blower motor and an exhauster motor. Otherequipment in the locomotive is powered through a cycle skipper. Abattery and cranker system 16 provides voltage to maintain the batteryat an optimum charge and supplies power for operation of a DC bus and anHVAC system.

An intra-consist communications system collects, distributes, anddisplays consist data across all locomotives in the consist. A cabsignal system 18 links the wayside to the train control system. Inparticular, the cab signal system 18 receives coded signals from therails through track receivers located on the front and rear of thelocomotive. The information received is used to inform the locomotiveoperator of the speed limit and operating mode. A distributed powercontrol system provides remote control capability of multiple locomotiveconsists anywhere in the train. It also provides for control of tractivepower in motoring and braking, as well as air brake control.

An engine cooling system 20 provides the means by which the engine andother components reject heat to the cooling water. In addition, itminimizes engine thermal cycling by maintaining an optimal enginetemperature throughout the load range and prevents overheating intunnels.

An end of train system provides communication between the locomotive caband last car via a radio link, for the purpose of emergency braking. Anequipment ventilation system 22 provides the means to cool thelocomotive equipment. An event recorder system records FRA required dataand limited defined data for operator evaluation and accidentinvestigation. It can store up to 72 hours of data, for example. A fuelmonitoring system provides means for monitoring the fuel level andrelaying the information to the crew. An exemplary global positioningsystem uses satellite signals to provide accurate position, velocity,and altitude measurements to the control system. A mobile communicationspackage system provides the main data link between the locomotive andthe wayside via a 900 MHz radio.

A propulsion system 24 provides the means to move the locomotive. Italso includes the traction motors and dynamic braking capability. Inparticular, the propulsion system 24 receives power from the tractionalternator and through the traction motors converts it to locomotivemovement. A shared resources system includes the I/O communicationdevices, which are shared by multiple equipment systems. A tractionalternator system 26 converts mechanical power to electrical power whichis then provided to the propulsion system. A vehicle control systemreads operator inputs and determines the locomotive operating modes.

The above-mentioned systems are monitored by a locomotive control system28. The locomotive control system 28 keeps track of any incidentsoccurring in the systems with an incident log. The aforementionedsystems can be found on a typical locomotive currently in service. Themethod of the present invention gathers data from such systems andutilizes it as described below to facilitate maintenance and repair ofthe locomotive with a minimum amount of locomotive down time.

The locomotive 10 may optionally include an onboard diagnostic system 30similar to that described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,845,272 assigned to GeneralElectric Company. Such a diagnostic system 30 can be implemented on acomputer, and it can comprise a number of sensors which monitor theequipment system parameters of the locomotive. The diagnostic system 30may also detect some faults in the monitored locomotive systems. Such afault detection system can be augmented and further adapted to practicethe method of the present invention, as described below. Morespecifically, the parameters which are monitored by an onboarddiagnostics system currently produce data which is only processedonboard, and stored in onboard memory. According to the presentinvention, the onboard diagnostics system 30 is adapted to furtherutilize this currently available data to reduce vehicle downtime, bytransmitting the data to the maintenance shop in advance of arrival ofthe locomotive at the shop, by means such as a satellite or cellulartelephone signal. At the maintenance facility, this information isfurther processed as described below, and compared with other data notavailable onboard the locomotive, to establish a maintenance and repairprogram for the vehicle, before its arrival at the shop.

FIG. 2 generally illustrates in block diagram a system according to thepresent invention, for performing a method of inspecting remote inboundvehicles comprising first identifying an inbound locomotive and itsscheduled maintenance date, in step 31. The maintenance schedule for thelocomotive is kept at a computer in the shop or at the management officeof the locomotive owner, which can be a railroad company.

Prior to arrival of the locomotive at the shop, the shop computer sendsa signal to the locomotive's onboard computer and instructs it totransmit data on all monitored parameters, in step 32. The shop computercontains a vast amount of historical and empirical data pertaining tomost systems used in various locomotive models, and it uses that dataaccording to an algorithm to classify various maintenance and repairoperations as “required”, “advisable”, or “optional”, in step 33, forthe particular locomotive which is inbound at the time.

A report is then generated while the vehicle is still inbound, and sentto the owner, listing the “required”, “advisable”, and “optional”operations for that locomotive. Decisions can be made by experiencedmanagement personnel at the maintenance facility, in step 34, as towhich of the “advisable” and “optional” maintenance operations will beperformed when the locomotive arrives at the shop.

The method of the present invention envisions beginning repairoperations immediately upon arrival of the locomotive at the shop, as instep 35, obviating the requirement of a time-consuming inspection anddecision-making process after arrival of the locomotive in the shop.

Many vehicle system operating parameters are monitored, and trends arecalculated on a subset of those parameters, or on all of the parameters.Among the parameters which are usually monitored for locomotives, fordownloading in step 32, are ambient air temperature, train notch, totaltrack and force power, total voltage, total amps, software versions,engine RPM, engine temperature, crankcase pressure, dynamic braking,battery voltage, and voltage and amperage for all auxiliary motors. Forother vehicles, other sets of parameters may be monitored.

The trends are calculated, in step 33, by comparing values for a givenparameter over a period of time and comparing those values withhistorical data for identical vehicle systems. This enables rapid andaccurate correlation of trending data with a dedicated fault occurrenceexperience database. The trends are preferably calculated based in parton prior downloads collected in the database. The database is preferablycontinually updated and may be stored in the memory of the shop computeror off-site whereby it may be accessed on-line.

A locomotive 10 which has been adapted to implement the presentinvention preferably includes an onboard diagnostics system 30, similarto currently known data gathering systems, but further adapted topractice the present invention. The parameters which are monitored bycurrently known onboard diagnostics systems produce data used only foronboard processing, and for storage in onboard memory. In practice ofthe present invention, the data collection and processing equipment onthe locomotive is adapted to further utilize this currently availabledata to reduce vehicle downtime by transmitting the data to the shop bymeans such as a satellite or cellular telephone signal. Prior to ascheduled inspection at a repair shop, communication between the onboarddiagnostics system 30 and the remote monitoring station is initiated.Then, data processing and comparison, as well as decision making, areaccomplished while the vehicle is still operating. As a result, severalhours or even days of costly inspection and decision-making time areeliminated or shifted into the vehicle operating time and out of thevehicle down time.

While the particular invention as herein shown and disclosed in detailis fully capable of obtaining the objects and providing the advantageshereinbefore stated, it is to be understood that this disclosure ismerely illustrative of the presently preferred embodiments of theinvention and that no limitations are intended other than as describedin the appended claims.

1. A method of reducing the shop time of an inbound railroad locomotiveat a locomotive maintenance facility, with the locomotive having onboardoperating data gathering systems, comprising: providing a historicaldata base of locomotive operating data for similar locomotives;gathering locomotive operating data with said onboard data gatheringsystems during operation of said inbound locomotive, prior to arrival ofsaid inbound locomotive at a locomotive maintenance facility forscheduled maintenance; prior to arrival of said inbound locomotive atsaid maintenance facility, comparing said onboard operating data withsaid historical data base to determine maintenance and repair operationsto be performed when said inbound locomotive arrives at said maintenancefacility, said maintenance and repair operations being based on thecondition of said inbound locomotive; and providing informationindicative of said maintenance and repair operations to said maintenancefacility before said inbound locomotive arrives at said maintenancefacility.
 2. The method recited in claim 1, wherein said comparing ofsaid onboard locomotive operating data with said historical data baseincludes determining whether any of said onboard system data is out of apredetermined range or is within said predetermined range, butexhibiting a trend toward being out of said range.
 3. The method recitedin claim 2, wherein said onboard systems data is determined to be withinsaid predetermined range, but exhibiting a trend toward being out ofsaid range, by comparing a series of values for a given parameter over aperiod of time.
 4. The method recited in claim 2, further comprisingassigning at least one fault code corresponding to at least one systemfault based on said onboard operating data being either out of saidrange or exhibiting a trend toward being out of said range, prior toarrival of said inbound locomotive at said maintenance facility, whereinsaid determination of maintenance and repair operations is made inresponse to said at least one fault code.
 5. The method recited in claim1, further comprising classifying each said maintenance and repairoperation into a classification selected from the group consisting ofrequired, advisable, and optional operations, prior to arrival of saidinbound locomotive at said maintenance facility.
 6. The method recitedin claim 1, wherein said historical data base is comprised, at least inpart, of data collected from prior downloads of onboard operating data.7. The method recited in claim 1, wherein said historical data base isstored at a data center remote from said inbound locomotive, said methodfurther comprising communicating said onboard systems data to said datacenter, prior to arrival of said inbound locomotive at said maintenancefacility.
 8. The method recited in claim 7, wherein said data center islocated at said maintenance facility.
 9. The method recited in claim 1,wherein said comparing of said onboard locomotive operating data withsaid historical data base is performed at a location remote from saidinbound locomotive.
 10. The method recited in claim 9, wherein saidcomparing of said onboard locomotive operating data with said historicaldata base is performed at said maintenance facility.
 11. The methodrecited in claim 9, wherein said comparing of said onboard locomotiveoperating data with said historical data base is performed at said datacenter.
 12. A system for reducing the shop time of an inbound railroadlocomotive at a locomotive maintenance facility, comprising: a pluralityof data gathering systems onboard an inbound locomotive, said datagathering systems being adapted to gather onboard locomotive operatingdata during operation of said inbound locomotive, prior to arrival ofsaid inbound locomotive at a locomotive maintenance facility forscheduled maintenance; a historical data base of locomotive operatingdata from a plurality of similar locomotives; data comparison softwareadapted to compare said onboard operating data from said inboundlocomotive with said historical data base prior to arrival of saidlocomotive at said maintenance facility, to determine any maintenanceand repair operations to be performed when said inbound locomotivearrives at said maintenance facility, said maintenance and repairoperations being based on the condition of said inbound locomotive; anda communication system adapted to transmit information indicative ofsaid maintenance and repair operations to said maintenance facilityprior to arrival of said inbound locomotive at said maintenancefacility.
 13. The system recited in claim 12, wherein said datacomparison software compares said onboard operating data with saidhistorical data base to determine whether any of said onboard systemdata is out of a predetermined range or is within said predeterminedrange, but exhibiting a trend toward being out of said range.
 14. Thesystem recited in claim 13, wherein said data comparison softwaredetermines that said onboard operating data is within said predeterminedrange, but exhibiting a trend toward being out of said range, bycomparing a series of values for a given parameter over a period oftime.
 15. The system recited in claim 13, further comprising fault codeassignment software adapted to assign, prior to arrival of said inboundlocomotive at said maintenance facility, at least one fault codecorresponding to at least one system fault based on said onboardoperating data being either out of said range or exhibiting a trendtoward being out of said range, wherein said data comparison software isadapted to determine said maintenance and repair operations in responseto said at least one fault code.
 16. The system recited in claim 12,further comprising classification software adapted to classify each saidmaintenance and repair operation into a classification selected from thegroup consisting of required, advisable, and optional operations, priorto arrival of said inbound locomotive at said maintenance facility. 17.The system recited in claim 12, wherein said historical data base iscomprised, at least in part, of data collected from prior downloads ofonboard operating data.
 18. The system recited in claim 12, wherein:said historical data base is stored at a data center remote from saidinbound locomotive; and said communication system is further adapted totransmit said onboard operating data to said data center prior toarrival of said inbound locomotive at said maintenance facility.
 19. Thesystem recited in claim 18, wherein said data center is located at saidmaintenance facility.
 20. The system recited in claim 12, wherein saiddata comparison software is resident on a computer at a location remotefrom said inbound locomotive.
 21. The system recited in claim 20,wherein said data comparison software is resident on a computer at saidmaintenance facility.
 22. The system recited in claim 20, wherein: saidhistorical data base is stored at a data center remote from said inboundlocomotive; and said data comparison software is resident on a computerat said data center.